During the United Nation’s Secretary General’s visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Antonio Guterres admitted the UN Security Council has failed to go far enough in its efforts to "prevent and end" the war in Ukraine.
In a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the UN chief said "let me be very clear: the Security Council failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war. And this is the source of great disappointment, frustration, and anger."
Two explosions were heard after the UN chief ended his talks with Zelensiky which focused on efforts to evacuate civilians from the southern
port city of Mariupol.
Asked about the blasts Guterres told a Portuguese broadcaster "there was an attack on Kyiv...it shocked me, not because I'm here but because Kyiv is a sacred city for Ukrainians and Russians alike."
In the second phase of Russia’s military operation, Moscow has shifted its forces hundreds of miles eastward to capture two provinces in a battle the West believed may prove a decisive turning point in the war.
Since that shift, which Moscow says is the second phase of its operation, there has rarely been reports of any explosions in Kyiv.
Analysts say the West, in particular the United States and the United Kingdom, are pouring weapons into Ukraine to keep the war at an impasse and prolong it.
The more Moscow comes to achieving its goals militarily and diplomatically through the peace process, the more the U.S. and the UK are sending advanced and more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine to keep the war stretching hopefully in Washington and London’s eyes for years.
For example, Western countries have ramped up weapons supplies to Ukraine in recent days as the fighting in the east has escalated.
This week more than two dozen countries met at a U.S. airbase in Germany and pledged to send heavy arms such as artillery for what is expected to be a vast battle of opposing armies in Eastern Ukraine.
Experts say this is the only way the West can try to contain Russia’s growing economic and military power, by keeping it engaged in a war while the propaganda machine in the Western mainstream media works overtime.
It’s not the same actors in Ukraine but it’s a very similar strategy that the West used against Syria, by waging a war against the Arab country that stretched a decade and continuing to pump weapons, support, and training to the foreign-backed militants and terrorists.
On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to support Kyiv, a massive jump in U.S. funding that includes over $20 billion for weapons and ammunition and other military aid.
The package forms part of U.S. efforts to isolate and punish Russia for its February 24 military offensive in Ukraine, which has forced more around five million people to flee abroad.
"We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Biden claimed at the White House after signing the request "the cost of this fight, it's not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly” he also claimed.
In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would remove several constraints on sending weapons to Ukraine. However, the bill has been passed with the condition that Ukraine has to pay for the “return of and reimbursement and repayment for defense articles loaned or leased” to it.
The eastern European country’s ability to make such payments has come under the spotlight as the Ukrainian government is currently requesting $7 billion per month from the U.S. and the EU only to continue paying salaries and pensions for Ukrainians.
Washington has said it hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia's assault on the east but also weaken its military.
The German parliament meanwhile has backed sending Ukraine heavy weapons, marking a sharp shift from its previously cautious approach to Russia. Some
analysts have pointed out that Berlin has succumbed to pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom and other western countries.
Russia has strongly denounced the statements of NATO, especially Britain that it is legitimate for Ukraine to target Russian logistics.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said "in the West, they are openly calling on Kyiv to attack Russia including with the use of weapons received from NATO countries" Maria Zakharova said, "I don't advise you to test our patience further.” She added.
The Kremlin warns that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine will pose a threat to European security.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters. "The tendency to pump weapons, including heavy weapons into Ukraine, these are the actions that threaten the security of the continent, provoke instability."
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, has called on Kyiv's allies to send more tanks and other heavy lethal weapons to Ukraine.
According to Truss, NATO should integrate Finland and Sweden “as soon as possible” if the two Nordic nations choose to do so. Something Moscow has repeatedly warned would lead to further instability.
Russia says that this amounts to NATO waging a "proxy war" against it, and has made a
number of threats this week of unspecified retaliation.
The country’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has said “NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy. War means war.”
President Vladimir Putin calls Russian actions a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine that became necessary as the United States was using the country to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend ethnic Russian-speaking people from further persecution.
In the lead-up to the war, Moscow sent proposals to NATO and the United States regarding security guarantees as the U.S.-led military alliance was expanding eastwards. However, the Kremlin’s proposals were rejected by both NATO and Washington.
Moscow says Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014 also led to the outbreak of fighting. Russia eventually recognized the breakaway eastern Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
Ukraine argues it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and has dismissed Putin's claims of persecution.
Analysts have said the war could have been avoided if NATO agreed to Moscow’s demands to end the military alliance’s Eastward expansion towards Russian borders, but this was not in the interests of the Anglosphere.
Russian forces are now focused on the East of Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have partially controlled the territory since 2014, and also hold a swathe of the south they seized in March.
Russia's defense ministry says the country’s military had fired missiles at six Ukrainian arms and fuel depots and destroyed them, and that 76 Ukrainian military facilities were also hit.
Russia has also reported what it says have been a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions which border Ukraine and has warned that such attacks risk significant escalation.
Also on the battlefield, more reports are emerging of explosions being heard inside Russian territory near the border with Ukraine, according to media reports citing witnesses. It has not been made immediately clear what caused them, whether there were any casualties or damage and whether these are attacks from the Ukrainian military using Western weapons.
Russia's defense ministry says its forces have destroyed seven Ukrainian fuel and ammunition depots with "high-precision missiles".
Tehran Times could not immediately verify the latest battlefield reports.
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